Effect of age on proximal esophageal response to swallowing

Abstract

-Context -It has been demonstrated that the ageing process affects esophageal motility. Objectives -To evaluate the effect of the age on the proximal esophageal response to wet swallows. Method -We measured the proximal esophageal response to swallows of a 5 mL bolus of water in 69 healthy volunteers, 20 of them aged 18-30 years (group I), 27 aged 31-50 years (group II), and 22 aged 51-74 years (group III). We used the manometric method with continuous perfusion. The proximal esophageal contractions were recorded 5 cm from a pharyngeal recording site located 1 cm above the upper esophageal sphincter. The time between the onset of the pharyngeal and of the proximal esophageal recording (pharyngeal-esophageal time) and the amplitude, duration and area under the curve of the proximal esophageal contraction were measured. Results -The pharyngeal-esophageal time was shorter in group I subjects than in group II and III subjects (P<0.05). The duration of proximal esophageal contractions was longer in group I than in groups II and III (P<0.001). There was no differences between groups in the amplitude or area under the curve of contractions. There were no differences between groups II and III for any of the measurements. Conclusion -We conclude that the age may affects the response of the proximal esophagus to wet swallows.

Effects of Age on Esophageal Motility: Use of High-resolution Esophageal Impedance Manometry

“…33 However, another report suggested no difference between a healthy elderly group and a healthy younger group in amplitude or area under the curve of proximal esophageal contractions in the study using conventional manometry. 34 Wilson et al 35 reported that healthy older subjects were found to have only marginally lower UES tonic pressures in the study using conventional manometry. However, all of these reports used conventional manometry, which might be a cause of diverse results.…”

Possible interaction of gender and age on human swallowing behavior

“…The aging process causes a lower flow of the bolus through the mouth and pharynx (6,16) and a longer cricopharyngeal opening duration (18) . An influence of age and gender on esophageal motility was also observed (7,8,11,26,27,28) . However, there are insufficient data about the interaction of age and gender on swallowing.…”

“…Compared to younger subjects, older subjects have higher amplitude and longer duration of hypopharyngeal pressure (26) , lower UES resting pressure (26,27) , an increase in the amount of pharyngeal residues, prolonged oral transit, prolonged pharyngeal transit, prolonged pharyngeal clearance (6) , and a longer UES opening duration (18) . The proximal esophageal contraction has a later response to swallowing and a shorter duration in older subjects than in younger subjects (11) . The duration of supraglottis closure and the maximal vertical excursion of the hyoid bone are increased in older subjects compared to younger ones (17) .…”

Morphometric analysis of muscularis proper and myenteric plexus of the normal human oesophagus. Age related changes

“…On the other side, aging, as a normal biological process with the deleterious effect on the function of numerous organs, in the gastrointestinal system can cause various disorders [7,[9][10][11]. Many reports on the oesophagus function and motility disorders, as well as clinical effects of aging on the oesophagus exist [8,14,19], but comparative and quantitative analysis studies concerning the effect of aging on cells in the muscularis proper are absent. Scientists frequently pointed out systemic diseases as a primary reason for age-related dysfunction of the oesophagus [22,29] as well as changes of myenteric plexus related to aging [11,19,31].…”

“…On the other hand, deleterious effects of aging on the structure and function of many organs are well recognised [9,16,17,19,27]. Oesophageal dysfunctions related to aging are clinically well described [4,8,10,14,23], but histological reports are not numerous and mostly focus on the swallowing reflex structures and the oesophageal sphincter [3,12,20,30]. Interestingly enough, histomorphometric examinations focused on the other parts of the human oesophagus are absent.…”